Outside the southern city, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and the sound of artillery roared like a thunderstorm. The besiegers had retreated to the first line of defense, watching the chaos of brick and lime splattering on the walls.

The shelling stopped after a while. There was a brief silence outside the city walls, but there was a commotion inside the city walls, "Hold your weapons!" ......The shouts of the generals and the sound of gongs and drums were in a mess, and a large number of Northern Han army troops were on standby at the entrance of the city, and many city defense equipment were also rushed to the city.

However, at this time, the Zhou army did not swarm and attack the city as originally tactics.

On the camp of the Zhou army, Guo Shao rode to the front in person and ordered loudly: "Spread the decree, stop the siege on all fronts!" ”

Gao Yanyu stepped forward and hugged his fists and said: "Your Majesty, the Jiannan Army has made up its mind to sacrifice their lives for the country, and their morale has not been shaken by this. ”

Guo Shaozheng said: "The more the soldiers are not afraid of death, the more I am afraid of their death!" ”

…… In a short time, scattered rangers galloped towards the city walls, running horses on the disastrous battlefield. The soldiers of the Northern Han Army don't know what the Zhou army is doing, the cavalry is attacking the city, and there are so many people?

The Northern Han defenders in the city first set off the ballista, and the ballista had a range of more than 200 steps! However, the ballistas were bulky and few in number, and the sparse arrows could not cope with the high-speed rampant rangers. The catapults in the city also fired cannons, and they still couldn't take the scattered rangers, and the stones smashed into ......the mud one after another, and not even a single person was hit.

A group of rangers suddenly approached the city wall, and within dozens of steps of the city wall, bows and arrows also beckoned to them, and the arrows clanged at the armor of the Zhou cavalry. Suddenly, there was a neighing of horses, and the horse of a knight of the Zhou army was shot and wounded, and the people above fell down, rolling in dust.

But it wasn't long before the rangers withdrew.

A military general galloped to the banner of the Chinese army of the Jiannan Army, turned over and dismounted and knelt on one knee, hugged his fists and said: "Your Majesty, the last general has been ordered to find out, there are 18 artillery pits about 50 steps, six within 100 steps, and two outside 100 steps!" ”

"Okay." Guo Shao waved his hand.

At this time, forty or fifty generals gathered from all sides one after another, and saluted the emperor on a tall black horse. Guo Shao nodded, and then said directly: "In Nancheng for more than a day, a total of more than 1,500 artillery shots have been fired, and there are only more than 20 misfirers within 50 steps, and it will take about 75 cannons to be mistakenly thrown 50 steps away; If you shoot by mistake, you may not be able to destroy your own equipment......"

Guo Shao's tone was not strong, but he was very calm, with clear speech and a focused gaze. At such important times, he usually keeps a clear head and is in a good state, and his emotions are calm but sharp.

The generals listened with wide eyes, because Guo Shao's speed of speech was relatively fast, not all of them understood the meaning for a while; But Guo Shao only needs them to understand that they are not blindly commanding, as long as they believe it.

He continued: "Therefore, I have decided to stop the method of attacking the city by the ants, which is too costly to effectively consume the enemy. Change the attack tactics, you can't hope to rush to the top of the city overnight, as long as the Northern Han army feels threatened, and constantly adjusts men and horses to defend and consume. Let General Gao assign each command responsibility in detail. ”

…… By the afternoon, outside the two or three hundred pace-wide city walls of the southern city near the urn city, the Zhou army had concentrated more than 200 artillery pieces; Elsewhere, the siege fortifications remained, but artillery and quartermasters were given way to the main areas of attack.

A large number of soldiers pushing wheelbarrows rushed towards the city wall in a sparse arrangement, and the carts were filled with earth! It was the soldiers who pushed the carts, not the people, because the soldiers had armor and were good at defending bows and arrows. There were many archers, swords and shields, and large ordnance between the wheelbarrows, and a large group of people slowly spread towards the city wall like a tide.

The military generals of the Northern Han Dynasty observed it, and attacked the city with soil?

The flags on the head of the city swayed, and the soldiers of the Northern Han Army poured into the city wall in a queue, carrying ballistas, cauldrons, and oil drums.

Unexpectedly, the soldiers of Zhou who were pushing the cart stopped at about a hundred paces. Then I heard the drumming in the open field outside the city, and after a while, "Boom! Boom ......" cannon sounded, and rows of white smoke rose out of the artillery salvo.

The military general on duty of the Northern Han Army shouted in a deep voice: "Oops! Medium! ”

The artillery of the Zhou army was probably quite accurate, and they would adjust the angle when they didn't hit it on time. Heavy rolling stones roared from the sky!

The catapults of the Zhou army, which had attacked within 200 paces, were also launched. Some **bags tied with stones (to increase weight) flew towards the city, and a **bag suddenly caught fire in mid-air, and exploded with a "boom"! The sparkling light of the fire is more dazzling than the fireworks. And the tumbling stone is still flying with the explosive **, and an arc of fire and smoke is drawn in the air, like a rainbow! The defenders looked up at the sky in amazement, but only one stone remained on the wall, and it was over with a bang.

The other medicine bag fell on the city wall, and the lead in the bamboo pipe was still "snorting" and burning, and everyone looked horrified and avoided it, and after a while, it exploded with a "bang", as if a fire was suddenly put on the wall, and the smoke was very large.

When another medicine bag fell up, a soldier picked up a scoop and scooped a scoop of "golden juice" and poured it on the medicine bag, and there was no movement.

However, those hundred-pound rolling stones roared and smashed on the women's wall and the brick floor, and the power was great! The dense crowd had a catastrophic end, and screams rang out everywhere. "Bang!" Suddenly, a rolling stone violently smashed over the iron pot, and even the stove and firewood below flew up, and the "golden juice" in the iron pot splashed, and the surrounding soldiers covered their faces, screaming "wow", and a foul smell diffused.

The rolling stones fired from the artillery were heavy, flying diagonally from mid-air, as if they were indestructible! With a "boom", the floor tiles on the city wall were directly shattered, and stones and dirt flew like arrows! If the personnel are too dense, there are several people who are injured by the rubble alone. Even the hard soil below will be smashed into a big hole! The soldiers of the Northern Han Army were most afraid of this thing, and the battle alone was very scary.

......The fires and white smoke on the wilderness flashed in rows, and after each salvo, terrifying stones flew down from the heights! A hundred-pound thing fell from mid-air, the force was very strong, if it happened to hit the female wall, that section of the female wall would directly burst and collapse!

Wolves howled on the walls, and many people retreated along the ramp of the upper city, and their ordnance was destroyed.

Under the sound of artillery, a large number of Zhou soldiers and horses under the city continued to advance. Several huge cloud carts behind have been slowly being pushed closer, and one of them has slowly approached the city wall within a hundred paces. It was a large chariot that was four feet tall!

The huge cloud car is like a tower, with a lot of thick wooden wheels installed underneath, and the wooden shaft is dripping oil, which needs to be pushed by dozens of people, moving very slowly, and there is almost no maneuvering, which is easy to become a big target and be destroyed; And it is troublesome to build and consumes a lot of manpower. However, it is still a relatively strong weapon when attacking the city, and the three-story arrow tower on it is higher than the city wall, and it can be turned around to attack the city wall when it is close! In addition, the state of defense on the walls can be clearly observed from above.

Three rows of bows and arrows stretched out of the arrow holes, "whooshing ......" throwing arrows at the city wall, the top of the city wall was filled with gunsmoke, the smoke was like a faint cloud, and the black arrows in the "cloud" flew wildly. A loud shout pierced through the smoke and seemed to rush into the sky.

Rockets poured from the city walls, "crackling" into the thick planks above the clouds, and the tarpaulins on the arrowheads were still on fire. But the plank in front of the cloud car was covered with a thick layer of thin mud, and the rocket was useless against it. The walls were also in disarray, and there were not many attacks.

After a long time, I saw clusters of burning fireballs flying out of the city, and black smoke was streaked out of the air. Incendiary material thrown by catapults. Most of them fell to the ground, but they were near the cloud cart, apparently coming for the thing. The second time, many fireballs flew out, and a fireball wrapped in oilcloth hit the top of the cloud car, and suddenly there was a "clang" cracking sound, and the black oil spread out and the fire became more vigorous. Not long after, another fireball hit the cloud car.

A soldier carried a bucket of water and ran out of the arrow tower, stood outside, scooped water and poured it on it, but unexpectedly, there was a "boom" of fire and boiling oil, and the soldier immediately threw away the things in his hand, holding his head and screaming heartbreakingly.

The archers on the tower hurriedly ran down the stairs, and everyone shouted, and the cloud cart was pushed backwards by the people below, and the flames and black smoke spread above, and the battle was very large.

However, most of the Northern Han soldiers on the city wall withdrew to take refuge, but the catapults inside the city wall were still throwing stones outside the city.

The large crowd of the Zhou army reached about fifty steps to the city wall, and they planted flagpoles along a line! Seems to be marking the approximate distance. At this time, a cyan flag shook violently from side to side, and the sound of artillery in the rear quickly stopped.

A group of soldiers pushed the soil to the corner of the wall, and there was not much soil in a cart, but the earthmoving trucks of the Zhou army were endless, and they dug pits and took soil a hundred steps away. There are even people carrying wooden scoops to ram earth under the corners of the walls!

From time to time, the stones of catapults hit people, but compared to the endless flow of people, the proportion of casualties was very small, and it did not stop the Zhou army from working under the city at all.

Finally, there was a noise on the city wall, and more soldiers of the Northern Han army were driven to the city again, and new equipment was carried to the city. The movement was observed by the cloud chariot of more than 200 steps, and the rear sounded in unison, and the generals on horseback shouted "Go away!" among the people. Back off! It's time to fire the cannon......" The crowd under the city walls threw down their wheelbarrows and all sorts of things, turned around and ran.

No sooner had the crowd retreated than fifty paces away where the flag had been planted, when a tall red flag waved. The prepared artillery array immediately "boom boom ......boom" suddenly roared, and the huge artillery bombardment resounded through the world again, although the lethality was still limited, but it was enough for the people of the Northern Han army to bear a loss again!